A Day with Nathan

Nathan had a soccer tournament in Pueblo on Saturday.  A sweet friend took my little girls for the day and Stephen took care of the other kids' games.  That left Nathan and I all set for the day.

The weather was beautiful.  Nathan was incredible.  I LOVE watching him play.  He is so talented and has such a passion for soccer.
   
One of my favorite parts of sports is the practices and games because it means one on one time as I'm taking them to their sport.  Nathan and I had so much fun visiting and laughing about different things.  He asked me questions that I know he would have never asked me with others listening in.  He is such a sweet boy.  We went to Subway for lunch and did a little shopping for his diarama project and a quick stop at Maurices.

We are anxiously awaiting to hear from his coach whether they won or not today because it's Sunday.

Dead Moth Smell

Rebecca got a new ring at Target and is pretty much the fanciest little girl.

Rebecca is ALSO the prissiest little girl.  She had an indoor soccer game this morning.  As we were leaving she said, "I hate playing in there because it is so stinky, especially on the bench where we have to sit."

I'm thinking ya it does stink in there with all of the sweat that doesn't get aired out.  And ya it probably is really stinky by the bench where sweat has seeped into the wood.

Then she says, "Mom, I think it smells like a DEAD MOTH in there"......uh......a Dead Moth?!?!?.....Do those even smell?!?!

Why would you compare any smell to a dead moth?!?

Family Field Trip Friday

The kids only had a half day on Friday, so we decided to take them on a little family field trip.  Stephen even came along with us.  See if you can guess where we went....

Have you guessed yet?.... 

We went to the Olympic Training Center here in Colorado Springs.  There are only three Olympic training centers here in the United States and we are lucky to have one of them here.  Stephen and I used to go to events held here (especially the USA Olympic volleyball events), but really we haven't been for years.  However, with the Olympic watching we have been doing, we just couldn't resist going.

The tour starts out with a movie filled with music and inspiring athlete clips.  Then you get to go and see where they train and even see some of the athletes.   When we were visiting the swimming pool, the tour guide said that Michael Phelps had just been there training a few weeks ago.  There are para-athletes as well that train.  You can see one in the above swimming picture.  They REALLY amaze me because they are overcoming soooo many factors to be able to compete.  Can you imagine how much harder it is for the swimmer above not to have hands to propel him in the water, yet he is out there swimming probably wayyy faster than I can.

I loved the inspiring quotes and words that are hung up on the walls.  I remember in high school seeing and having quotes hung up.  Our basketball coach would even put up words with their definitions, like "intensity".  I think that the more you read these sayings, the more you believe them and then DO THEM!

Anyway, we finished our little outing with a trip to Rizutto's Ice Cream. 

 

I love how the Olympics inspire!  I think that I need to get their 20 minute movie clip to watch EVERY day before I go and workout.

Quick Subway Sign

My friend Amber started me out on this project.  Another creative friend had made one and sent us all the details, you can see hers HERE.  I didn't want to take all the time to do each letter.  (Lazy I know).  SOOO I had this brilliant idea to paint my board white, put vinyl on then spray paint all of it black.  Then when I took off the vinyl it would leave my white pretty lettering underneath.  Not quite as easy as I had pictured,  the spray paint adhered the vinyl so much so that I couldn't pick off the lettering without leaving deep marks in my wood. ----This was actually the project last week that was driving me crazyyyyy!!!!

Since that didn't work I was back to square one.  That's when I thought of dear ol' Costco.  You can print up a 20 x 30 poster size for only $8.99.  AND that is exactly what I did.  I played with fonts and words in photoshop.  Sent it over to Costco.  Took my print and modge podged it onto my boxed board.  I say boxed board because it looks like a canvas.  It's thin sheeting with a little frame around it in the back to give it diminsion.  I LOVE it!!!

It was really quick and easy to do.  It makes me want to do another big sign to hang somewhere else.  Thanks Erin for the idea!!!

Readers

I married a reader so it should be no surprise that our kids LOVE to read.

Every night after we do the bedtime routine the older kids can lay in their beds and read for a half hour.  They usually beg to read longer.  I love this time of night because it seems like everyone is finally settling down.

I LOVE hearing about their books.  AND it's fun to see the genre of books that each seem to enjoy...

I also LOVE the library and am so grateful that we have access to soooo many books.

I also love to have some classics and favorite books here in our family library.  It's just nice to have them here to grab for the next kid to enjoy.

I hope that as my kids continue to get older that they will always LOVE to read and take time TO read.

(After seeing these pictures on the computer I think that it is so fun to see the boys' lamps lighting on the side of them.  I love being curled up in a warm blanket with a small lamp light illuminating my book.  Something about that just makes me feel cozy.)

Button FHE

I started out talking about the Olympics.  I asked each person what their favorite Olympic sports to watch were.  Next I asked them to imagine if there was only ONE sport that was in the Olympics. 

Then I brought out my button collection and poured them into a glass pan.

I talked about the different sizes, colors, details and even number of holes on them.  I had four different pieces of clothing from various family members and talked about how certain buttons "fit" for certain articles of clothing.  I laid a sparkly pink button on Stephen sports jacket and talked about how the color, style and even size didn't work BUT how another big blue button was perfect.  I let the girls find the right color button for certain dresses and talked about how some need big strong buttons to hold things whereas others need dainty fun buttons to fancify a dress or shirt.

Then the kids went over to Stephen for his demo.  He had a bolt and a hand full of wrenches.  He let the kids pick a wrench and try to fit it on the bolt.  Of course there is ALWAYS only ONE size that will fit and turn the bolt.  It can't be too small or too big of a wrench.  Each is important for it's purpose and can only "fit" on certain bolts.
We then talked about where each of us "fit".  Jerrica fits in nursery, but we can't picture Dad "fitting" there in her class.  Jacob fits comfortably in his art class whereas Nathan might not feel as comfortable there.  It is fun that we each are unique and "fit" somewhere.  We each have a specific purpose with such varied talents to help us "fit" where we are needed. 

We ended the night with this quote that I had Kaylee write on our dry erase board.  The quote is from my favorite Dr. Suess.

Today You are You

That is Truer than True

There is No one Alive

Who is Youer than YOU!

LOVE that quote and LOVE how we are all unique and have specific places where we each "fit". 

Smile

Do you see this beautiful smile here -

It is in the process of getting even prettier as of today!  We were at the orthodontist all morning.

She has the Thompson big teeth (no offense, they are pretty teeth) but has the Coley small mouth.  Not a very good combination.  She basically has two teeth trying to grow in the same spot.

I should have checked Stephen's teeth before I married him, kinda like they check horses teeth before they buy them!

Weekend Update

Our weekend weather had snow and lots of cold,

And I still let Jacob go on his Scout overnight camp out.  I sooo didn't want him to go because it was snowing and cold.  But looking into his excited big eyes to go ice fishing and be with some of his best friends, I just couldn't say no.  Instead, I bought him a ton of hand and foot warmers and prayed for him to stay warm.

Outdoor soccer games were canceled, but the basketball games were still on.

This ref drove me nuts!  He was on a total power trip and called two technicals for such weird things.  I wish that Nathan would have chucked this ball at him.  (I know, I know I get a little too intense and competitive with sports)

 This next photo is blurry, BUT I love that you can see Kaylee's shooting form.  She has such a nice little shot.  It also makes me smile to see her defender's hand coming in blocking from the side.

We also went to an ice festival

Look in these next couple of pictures at Kaylee's BLUE lips.  Yes, it was a cold weekend!

The ice festival was an undersea adventure filled with whales, fish, seahorses, sharks, a pirate ship with golden ice in the trunk, a mermaid, and King Triton's throne

The sculptures were amazing, but the drive home was not so fun because my little Ashley got sick. 

Also, went and saw this with some friends

Don't you just love to laugh and visit with friends!?!  The movie was filled with love letters, which reminded me of a project that I am working on and will show you this week.

Now on to a new week filled with Dr appointments, practices, volunteering and jury duty .....ugh!!!!

Questions

Sometimes it's easier to respond to comments and emails in a quick post and that is exactly what this is.


Freezer Friends - Is a group of six friends.  We have similar family sizes and similar tastes.  We meet once a month to exchange our meals.  We include a recipe along with the meal.  Instructions are written in Sharpie on the freezer containers or foil.  The categories are chicken, beef, soup, casserole, and a whatever category (you can make anything from a dessert, breakfast meal, something to grill ...ANYTHING)  I like it this way because you don't end up with all soups for a month or all casseroles.  Also, it narrows down your possibilities as you are trying to think of what to make since you have to stay in your category.  Lastly, we alternate who sets up the date and time to meet so that one person isn't always in charge of coordinating and having it at their house.  Whomever has chicken has to host that month.  We have been doing it for about a year now, and I LOVE it!!!


Photography - I am loving to learn about this right now.  I usually am reading a book or something online about photography.  If you haven't subscribed to this FREE photography school http://digital-photography-school.com/ you really should.  They have incredible tips and ideas.  I'm also thinking of signing up for the clickin moms photography.  The other site I love is the www.iheartfaces.com site.  It is filled with tutorials!  I also enjoy tips on http://www.momshots.com/.

One of my favorite accessories that I LOVE to use is my monopod.  I LOVE it!  The more still that you can hold your camera , the more sharp your photos will be!  However, I find that tripods can be a pain adjusting, whereas the monopod can be leaned and quickly lengthened and shortened since there is only ONE pod to deal with.  AND it gives you a steady prop to take the picture.  You can find it here on Amazon Canon Monopod 100 for SLR Cameras & Lenses I will post more on settings that work for me and other tips I have learned in other posts.

Photo Shoot

I LOVE taking pictures.  I think it's because it freezes moments of time.  My sweet friend Angie brought over two of her kids on Monday.  I wasn't going to post these on here, but then couldn't resist as I was finishing them up tonight.  There were a lot of fun ones.  Here are two of them -

Angie, your kids are beautiful just like you!!!

Afternoon Projects

Sometimes I LOVE a good project and other times I just get sooo frustrated.
Do you remember my last BIG project?  It was this pretty dresser that was only $25.  I LOVED the handles and didn't need to replace them and I used my own paint.  So I was quite pleased with how my $25 turned out from this ...

into this ...

Well today I decided to take on a chair that I want in my craft room for kids to sit on and chat with me as I do my projects.  Here is what it looks like ...

Scary!!!  I'm doing the wood in a real dark brown stain and then the fabric to recover it is a grey blue and brown geometrical print.  I think it will go perfect with the grey blue walls in there.  I decided that if you want a chair with a fun print you have to do it yourself.
As I was pulling out the 1,000's of staples and dismantling it Ashley comes in and tells me that I'm breaking the chair.  Jerrica is right there trying to help me, but was being a little too helpful and driving me crazy.  I had a hard time with some of the screws that were stripped, so I ran downstairs and had Steve come help.
Of course after taking it all apart, I moved on to my next project which was a vinyl Subway sign.  It totally didn't go as easily as I thought and made me completely frustrated.  Stephen once again was there by my side encouraging me. 
I then moved on to my little book holder shelves that are to go by the kids' desks in their rooms to help take clutter OFF the desks.  My dad had started them for me when I was in Tennessee and of course thought that I needed to be the one to assemble them.  Well, I needed some pieces cut and there was my Stever ready to help me again. 

I really don't know how my husband gets any work done here at home.  I DO KNOW that I am so grateful for how patient and willing he is to help me.  Stephen is how I am able to get things done in a day!  I love you Stever, thanks for today!

Olympics

My sister Alesha has ALWAYS been obsessed with the Olympics.  I am sure that we recreated our own Olympics hundreds of times growing up.  Well now that we are older we still try and recreate the Olympics for our kids.

Alesha has her basement decked out with Olympic decorations trying to make it their home base to watch them.  When her kids' friends come over and ask what all the decorations are about, she is quick to launch in that it's the Olympics "Aren't you watching them?!?!"

She started this Olympics out with a little party.  Of course there was a torch that was run from one floor to another in their house.  We broke her battery operated torch at my mom's when we had our last Olympic party so she took a bedpost and whipped up another.

There were ski events to compete in.  And clever Alesha DID NOT have to rent skis, NO she just made her own for the kids.

In fact it looks like the kids' even got to decorate them.  That is not possible on rentals!  I'm sure you could even tape slippers on to cardboard strips for bigger sized skis.  Here is an action shot with the skis -

This is actually the biatholon where you ski and shoot.  Water guns work just fine for that, unless they are shooting at you instead of the targets.

They did a luge down the stairs on sleeping bags.  Then they drew names for partners and took turns doing the bobsled with their partner pushing them.

Lee had her kids help decorate.  She had a snowball toss (cotton balls) into the Olympic rings and suggested that a snowball (big marshmallow) fight would be fun to do  Of course refreshments were donuts to be like the Olympic rings.  Alesha is even choosing a different country to feature each night until the Olympics are over.  She chose Mexico first and her 13 year old was quick to look up and point out that they don't have an athlete in the Winter Olympics.  Oh well!

Our last summer Olympics we were together at my mom's house.  Each family had to design their own flag and march into the backyard.  There were cards that each of the kids got where they could record how far they jumped, ran, threw ...  Medals were awarded to everyone.  Chinese food was served because that's where the Olympics were being held.  Alesha had signs on all the telephone poles to get us excited as we were driving to mom's.  She even had a drug testing table.  It was basically a sign and then cups of apple juice for you to drink, (yeah she was trying to be funny). 

Toilet paper was used as the finish line to cross.  It seemed like all the kids loved to break through the finish line.  I think that every homemade Olympics has to have toilet paper finish lines.

Here is a picture from the day, everyone looks so young to me.

Alesha IS always quick with an Olympic story of determination and hard work.  It's fun to talk Olympics and do our own analyzation of them.  I really think that Lee and I could take over Bob Costa's job and keep everyone entertained and excited about the Olympics.

Seal the Deal

Today we had another freezer exchange and can I just say how much I love having all these yummy meals ready to go in my freezer!  My Freezer Friends made calzones, chicken tortalini soup, lasagna, chicken enchiladas and Ranch chicken.  Isn't that a good variety?!?  We do have categories that we switch off each month so that we don't have all soups, or all chicken.
I have gotten quite a few new family favorites from this Freezer group of friends.  Here is a yummy recipe.  My friend calls it "Mom's Beef Stroganoff", but after hearing the story I changed the name to "Seal the Deal Stroganoff"  She was dating her husband at the time and took him home for dinner, which was the stroganoff, and she said that after he had it, that is what sealed the deal to marry her.  SOOOO if you are trying to prove your cooking skills or need to seal a deal, just try this stroganoff. 

After reorganizing my freezer, I then reorganized my recipe drawer and binder.  It just feels good to have it all organized, now to just keep it that way! 
I need to keep some of my favorites here on the blog in case I lose my copy.

Civil War Soldier

Miss Rebecca had a Civil War day.  They had so many fun activities, but my favorite was the postcard she brought home from the day.

That picture of Bec just cracks me up!  I also like the postcard that says, "...had only like a few people". 

Percy Jackson Quest

OK this date has been in the works for quite some time.  We challenged Nathan to finish the Percy Jackson series and told him that we would take him and Jacob on a special date the opening weekend of the movie if he completed it.  He did finish reading it and yesterday was our big date.
In the book Percy goes on sort of a quest and trains in a Camp Half Blood.  SOOO we started out with a quest for the boys.  I had given them a list of activities they had to complete within an hour.  They both had to finish an activity before they could move on to the next, which was good because they would encourage and help each other.  It was fun seeing them running around and keeping check on my timer that I had brought.  I used the character pictures from the book web site for each card.

I decided to do it at the YMCA because we could do so many different activities at one place.  They made 15 free throws a piece, climbed to the top of the climbing wall, hit the racquetball 15 consecutive times alternating with each other, ran laps on the track and swam two laps.  Yes they were probably exhausted by the time they sat down to see the movie.  They were quite excited that they did it under the time limit.

We had so much fun doing this!  I made a mental note that I need to do more activities like this. 
I took them on the quest and then Stephen came and took them on to the movie.

Of course I had to join them for dinner out.  Heaven for bid try and diet and just let them go out!
It was a fun day for my boys!